Lawrence Matteson has never been one to shy away from hard work. In fact, if it not for his dedication and resourcefulness, he wouldn’t be where he is today.
The young boy who grew up on his family’s farm outside of Wever, Iowa never dreamed he’d go on to build a multi-million dollar dredging company.
After graduating from Fort Madison High School in 1948, he and brother Eugene didn’t go to college—they went to work. And work was cutting timber along the Mississippi and Skunk Rivers armed with little more than a sharp chainsaw and strong work ethic.
“There wasn’t a lot of training back then, and it sure wasn’t taught in some classroom. You learned by doing it first-hand,” recounts Matteson.
Indeed, Matteson’s career education would not take place in a classroom. It would be learned over the course of his life, starting on the farm at his father’s side. The mechanical and problem-solving skills he learned growing up would become the bedrock of a lifetime of learning. The practical on-the-job training that came later would simply build upon previously-acquired skills.
Throughout the 50’s and 60’s, Matteson honed that knowledge at Case Company and Murray Ironworks in Burlington working in production, machining, and maintenance, all the while still maintaining the family farm.
In 1970, Matteson went to work for First Miss gypsum fertilizer plant in Green Bay Bottoms east of Wever as a heavy equipment operator, building and moving machinery, and maintaining the fertilizer containment ponds.
Two years later he spotted an opportunity to put that hard-earned knowledge to work for a business of his own. He bought a used dredge and signed a contract to maintain the plant’s containment ponds and barge loading facility along the river.
“Although it was used, it still cost $100,000—and even then I had to rebuild it,” says Matteson.
The risky move paid off. Over the next few years he put his dredge to good use, picking up additional work digging ponds and removing silt from lakes. Work picked up so much that he purchased a second dredge.
Over the next 40 years, he and his son Larry expanded the business to include marine construction. They slowly secured larger and larger projects, building grain and coal loading facilities, harbors, and structures for locks and dams.
The L.W. Matteson Company would go on to build facilities all along the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio Rivers, eventually becoming the largest fresh water dredging and marine construction company in the US.
“When jobs came up, we’d bid on them and most often we’d get them,” says Matteson.
Matteson developed a reputation as an innovator. Since he was relatively new to the dredging industry, he was open to doing things differently—one of his strongest competitive advantages.
Although not formally trained, Matteson used his acquired engineering skills and experience to tackle increasingly monumental jobs. Many were the first of their kind in size and scope. Problems would have to be solved as they arose.
Some projects involved designing and building machinery from scratch that could remove millions of cubic yards of sand and silt and push it through huge portable pipes over a mile long.
Matteson says that as years passed, fewer incoming workers had the same core skills like those he learned on the farm. He adds that over the past 50 years, a considerable amount of the practical, technical skills once learned at home – especially at farm homes – has been lost. With fewer people working on farms, in manufacturing, or in trade occupations, there are simply fewer people to hand down this knowledge and experience.
With that first point of contact all but lost, many young people’s experience with technical and vocational careers might not be until high school. Now those opportunities are dwindling, too, as schools struggle to match shrinking budgets with competing priorities.
Matteson, who at 82, is still a fixture on job sites, says that there is a mistaken mentality among many in education that only those who hold four-year degrees can be successful or have fulfilling careers with opportunities to succeed. Or, that bright young people shouldn’t even consider technical careers.
Matteson wants to correct that.
“There are all sorts of technical career jobs that offer good wages and advancement opportunities,” he explains.
Matteson points to his company as a prime example, “we have been very successful for a lot of years.”
When Matteson sold the dredging division of his company in 2010 for $50 million, he wanted to invest some of that money to promote technical education.
He worked with SCC to create the L.W. Matteson Endowed Scholarship. It is awarded to students enrolling in specific career or technical programs offered at SCC including Agriculture, Construction, Drafting, Electronics, Industrial Maintenance (InTech), Welding, and Pre-Engineering.
Up to 12 scholarships will be awarded every year and are designated for tuition and books up to $2000. The scholarship is renewable for a second year. The first year deadline was May 1, 2012, however, late applications may be considered. Complete details are available on SCC’s website: www.scciowa.edu/about/alumni_found.
In addition to the scholarships offered through SCC, Matteson created 12 more renewable scholarships through the North Lee County Community Foundation for local students wishing to study technical careers at a college of their choice. Application deadline is June 10.
After reflecting for a moment when asked to offer career advice, Matteson testified, “There are so many opportunities out there for people who are willing to do a better job and work a little harder than everybody else.”
Learn more about L.W. Matteson Company: www.lwmatteson.com. For more on Matteson’s North Lee County Community Foundation scholarship info, contact Matt Mendenhall at [email protected] or visit http://bit.ly/Kb7UAB.
